One of the anticipated parts in the campaign for the student council elections is the series of dorm tours. Dorm tours are face-off / debate events organized by the different dormitories in UP Diliman where they invite the parties and the candidates in the university student council elections, grill them and pit them against one another through questions. Questions may range from the serious and the political to the silly and funny.

Sometimes, they make the candidates play games and make them dance around–all in the spirit of good fun and camaraderie among rival candidates and students. In Yakal Residence Hall, a few nights ago, they made all the male candidates form a line, with no two partymates beside each other. They made us pass a around a piece of calling card with our mouths and without using our hands. Suck and Blow, they call it. Whew.

Speaking of dormitories, a few weeks ago, we were invited to the launching dinner of the renovated lobbies and offices of Kalayaan Residence Hall, the dormitory in UP Diliman exclusive to freshmen. Forgive me but the English equivalent of maaliwalas escapes me right now, but that is how I’d describe the new lobby and TV area.

A few days from now, I’ll be back in Kalayaan for the dorm tour. See you there.

One of the things candidates are asked to refrain from doing is to allow people to see them tired. But in all honestly, nakakapagod talaga ang mangampanya sa Diliman. Trying to reach out to more than twenty thousand students without the aid of mass media (TV, radio, film, etc.), except through print flyers and teasers, is a daunting task. One has to try and go to every class and reach every student in a campus that covers hundreds of hectares. Ten campaign days is barely enough to accomplish such task.

I need sleep, it’s one thing I haven’t gotten enough of the past week, nor will I be getting much of in the coming week. Pero kinakaya naman. It’s all in the spirit of relaying our campaign not just for the elections but for student involvement and collective action with other sectors of society with regards to the political crisis the country is facing, and for greater involvement in other issues that concern the university and the nation.

I was able to gain some time off from training and campaigning yesterday, so I went home and spent time with the family. Being able to play with our foster kid Tisay is such a great stress-reliever. Amazing how an adorable kid can bring so much joy, not just to me but to my family. I wonder how our adoption papers are doing now.

Okay, this is turning out to be an incoherent entry.

One week down, one more to go! There’s still hundreds of rooms and thousands more of fellow students to engage.

Sa gitna ng sentenaryo ng UP at ng krisis pampulitikang patuloy na nagaganap sa bansa, ipagpatuloy natin ang tradisyon ng tunay, palaban at makabayang student council sa pamantasan!

Above are our standard bearers, JERRIE ABELLA, outgong editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, and AIRAH CADIOGAN, incoming STAND-UP Chairperson and a department representative from the College of Mass Communication Student Council. Below are our candidates, which includes me, for councilors elected at-large.

(more…)

Today begins the two weeks of campaign in one of the most fiercely contested student council elections in the country.

This year, I am running for one of the twelve councilor positions elected-at-large in the University Student Council of the University of the Philippine Diliman under STAND-UP (Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights – UP), the leading militant political alliance in the university. This is my third student council elections as a candidate, and is my first as a candidate in the university-wide student council.

Anyway, this is not largely about me. Let this elections be based on issues and programs, ideologies and principles. Let us all look forward to a new university student council that will continue the struggle of defending the rights, not just of UP students, but of the Filipino people we all claim to serve.

See you in your classrooms!

[This is a post-dated entry I wrote the weekend before campaign period started. I guess it should go without saying that I won't be able to blog a lot for two to three weeks].

The first part of the rally’s program was filled with speeches and cultural presentations from various religious groups and sectors condemning the rampant corruption and immorality in government perpetuated by President Arroyo, her family and their cohorts. It was quite surprising, perhaps it’s because we are used to the idea of religion being an agent of pacification, that many of the religious people were quite strong in their words and gestures. There were probably a hundred or so seminarians too who took the lead in some of the chants that the crowd shouted throughout the day.

One of the priests even made side comments against his fellow priest for being an “Archbishop of Malacanang” for spinning the meaning of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines call for “collective action” to mean as collective action through prayer alone instead. Actually, I heard that certain archbishop from Northern Luzon on radio that morning, in his bid to keep people from joining the rally.

Representatives from students and educators also spoke in front of the crowd to condemn the President and her family and call for her ouster. As I’ve said earlier, one social cost, one social service that is hit hard with the effects of brazen corruption in this administration is the education sector, to which the government has continually implemented policies that commercialize the system and its orientation.

I was actually surprised, too, that the ouster calls also came from law students and professors, and lawyers themselves from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. I always thought they would take the more tame call of resignation.

There were also bands that played music to the crowd that afternoon. One of which was Brownman Revival. They even sang Bob Marley’s Get Up, Stand Up, which actually serves as the theme song of our militant alliance in UP (STAND-UP). It certainly roused STAND-UP members in the crowd.

The program went on till the sun has set. Joey de Venecia III, one of the whistle-blowers in this scandal that involves the President and her cohorts, also spoke passionately in front of the crowd that night.

I left Ayala just before the program ended. Let this not be the last manifestation of the people’s outrage! Tuloy-tuloy na ‘to.

Honestly, even though I wanted to go to the Makati rally, I felt quite lazy to make the trip all the way to Ayala from UP Diliman.

I was at Jollibee Katipunan that time with a friend for lunch. And you know what? Something hit me that made me make the trip and rally after all. I couldn’t stomach the thought that part of the 39 pesos I paid for a sulit meal will go to the pockets of the few greedy individuals in the administration with the value added tax that we all pay.

Noong kay Erap nga, jueteng pay-offs lang. If I was at the least only concerned with myself, wala pa akong pakialam d’yan, hindi naman ako naghu-jueteng, wala siyang ninanakaw sa ‘kin. Pero nag-EDSA na ang tao. Etong pinaggagawa nina Gloria and her cohorts, everyone’s going to be paying for them for decades to come.

Ewan ko lang sa iba, kung paano nila nasisikmura na tila nagbabayad tayong lahat ng tributo sa isang royal family na nakatira sa isang palasyo sa Maynila. Sa bawat cheeseburger meal, sa bawat sigarilyo, sa bawat ballpen, imbes na tustusan ang matinding pangangailangan ng mga public hospital, public schools, maging ng UP, napupunta sa mga German bank accounts ng ilang tao. Shet talaga. ‘Di ko masikmura.

We have to realize the long-term social cost of this brazen corruption. I really don’t understand why people keep falling into the trap of government propaganda. It gets pretty tiring. I don’t know what to think of people who have kept following the same “trabaho-hindi-gulo” line all these years. They have condoned the long-term cost of severe corruption with the short-term cost of “political instability.” Ang galing talaga ng spin ng mga propagandists nila. Marami namang nagpapauto at nananahimik na lang.

Hindi rallies and political instability ang nagpapahirap sa Pilipino. Sa mga bilyun-bilyong pisong kinukurakot ng ilan sa adminstration, marami na sanang pinoy ang nagka-bahay, ang nakapag-aral hindi lang sa elementary at high school, pati sa college. Maraming pinoy na sana ang mabubuhay nang maginhawa sa kinabukasan.

Still, “Dissent without action is consent.”

The first photo is of Carmen Deunida, also known as “Nanay Mameng”, the 78 year-old woman whose presence took public limelight with the strong words she spoke on stage and in front of crowds in the many rallies that culminated in the mobilzation that ousted former President Joseph Estrada in 2001. The second photo is of party-list representatives in Congress marching with the delegation from Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN).

I got to Ayala a little early. People were only setting up the sound system and the stage at the intersection of Ayala and Paseo de Roxas when I got there. It was past three when delegations came marching from all sides to converge at the designated street intersection.

These were some of the placards the people carried along with their organizations’ flags during the rally. Aside from the statement placards, there were also placards that depicted President Arroyo with a square mustache to liken her to the fascist dictator of Germany. The Desperate Household and the This is Evil placards especially caught my attention.

This was half the crowd in last Friday’s anti-Arroyo protest rally in light of the Senate investigations regarding Jun Lozada’s expose on the National Broadband Network scandal that involves the President, her family, and certain government officials.

Tens of thousands of people converged at the intersection of Paseo de Roxas and Ayala Avenue to express their outrage and disgust at the President and her administration. [Photo above from John Avellana].

I took the rest of the pictures below. The other pictures are in my Flickr site.

Tags: Gloria Arroyo, Makati, Philippine politics, rally

I spent the afternoon last Saturday, February 9, at the College of Fine Arts for Eka and Patti’s thesis short film shoot. Despite the fact that I didn’t have any formal role in the crew list, I passed by and played as an extra in some of their sequences.

Tags: college friends, film student, thesis, UP Film

Two weeks ago, I passed by my film blockmates Tope and Joma’s thesis short film shoot in one of the quasi-abandoned building complexes in UP. Their thesis also sort of brushes up on political disappearances. Actually, another blockmates’ film also tackles the same theme. Having similar themes with the other theses don’t really bother me. For me it’s simply a manifestation of the social milieu our films are based and made on.

I only stayed for a couple of hours that Saturday morning, as I had other things to attend to, so I was only able to catch the first few takes. Medyo bigatin ang thesis nila. They had Bembol Roco and Jason Abalos as their main actors.

Tags: college friends, film student, thesis, UP Film

If my birthday doesn’t fall on the day of our town’s fiesta, it falls a few days before or after the celebration held every first Thursday of February. I spent some hours during the day in Sta. Maria, Bulacan last February 7 before going to my late afternoon class and took it as an opportunity to stroll around and take some pictures.

Traffic in the poblacion, and in the highway around the Bocaue area is terrible whenever it’s fiesta day. Ambulant vendors, flea markets and thousands of pedestrians are all over the streets. It can get pretty frustrating, especially when you’re driving into and out of town, but it actually makes the environment feel quite festive.

After my late afternoon class that always last four hours into the evening, I invited some friends to come with me back to Sta. Maria and have dinner at our place. As expected, we were stuck in heavy traffic on our way. However, watching the spectacular fireworks display that went off while we were on the road made the wait in traffic and the frustrated hunger bearable.

Tags: birthday, Bulacan, fiesta, poblacion, Sta. Maria

When I got home late last night, I turned on the TV to watch parts of the proceedings in the House of Representatives. As everyone knows, an overwhelming majority of the House voted to oust Rep. Jose de Venecia from his leadership as Speaker. One of his sons may be one of my friends, but I didn’t feel any sort of sympathy for the Speaker as he was betrayed by his fellows in Congress and by the administration he has so fervently supported and defended all these years. For me, the circus in Congress and his consequent ouster was a natural phase of decay in a rotten institution. It is natural for a rotten body to decay and destroy itself.

It’s sickening how the words change and reform were raped by the congressmen last night. What change and reform are they talking about? They are largely the very institution that sustains the status quo. Their political maneuverings only seek to preserve the prevailing order of an Arroyo-controlled government and all its crimes. My god, I’ve rarely heard that much bullshit in one night. It can only come from Congress! If we should be certain about one thing, it is that congressmen are some of the last people who will be real agents of change in this country, for they are those who thrive in our present and tragic condition and social order.

There are some who fear that the events of the past days only reinforce the theory that the President and her family are preparing to maneuver its way into post-2010 control of the government. Scary thought, but all too probable.